Bagnis wins 18-16 in fifth after Open roller-coaster

PARIS (Reuters) - Facundo Bagnis of Argentina won one of the strangest matches at the French Open 18-16 in the fifth set on Monday - 3-1/2 hours after taking the first two sets against Julien Benneteau with the loss of just three games.

Qualifier Bagnis, ranked 143rd in the ATP rankings, wept into his shirt after holding on to beat the local favourite 6-1 6-2 1-6 3-6 18-16 for the biggest win of his career.

The final set alone lasted 144 minutes, more than the other four put together.

The longest match at the Roland Garros grand slam was Fabrice Santoro's defeat of fellow Frenchman Arnaud Clement in 2010 which lasted six hours 33 minutes and ended 16-14 in the fifth set.

(Reporting By Robert Woodward; editing by Martyn Herman)